Letter to the editor: Register tripped up by tax inconsistencies

Your recent editorial ["Using Sales Tax Money for Roads Is a Bad Idea," Nov. 27] states that fuel taxes are better seen as user fees, because the revenue for roads comes from those who use them, including drivers from out of state who stop in Iowa to fill up. The more you drive, the more you pay. It makes no sense to use sales tax revenue for roads, because sales taxes are paid by people whether they drive a little, a lot or not at all.

Yet, 10 days earlier, a previous editorial stated that insurance is similar to our property tax system. The single person without children, or the elderly person whose kids are grown, still has to pay taxes for schools. The person who never goes to a library still has to pay taxes for those facilities. You lack consistency in who should and shouldn't pay and why.

Also, why is it that The Des Moines Register loves higher taxes so much, yet you went from paying $308, 200 in property taxes in 2004 for your printing plant to your current $175,853? You also pay less at your former office building at 715 Locust St., $108,252 in 2003 and now $84,317.